Past-President of the New York Conference of Italian-American State Legislators

About Donna Lupardo

Donna A. Lupardo was elected in 2004 to represent the 123rd Assembly District which includes the City of Binghamton and the Towns of Vestal and Union.

Donna is an outspoken advocate for the Southern Tier, championing the area’s continuing economic recovery. She has worked to secure funding for many local nonprofits, area schools, development projects, and vital infrastructure. In her twelve years, Assemblywoman Lupardo has received numerous awards and recognitions for her commitment to public service.

She has taken a special interest in the environment, sponsoring numerous initiatives that protect the public from potential health risks and environmental hazards. She championed the State Green Building Construction Act; tenant notification of environmental testing results, and is committed to raising awareness about the importance of indoor air quality. In addition to her environmental work, she helped pass the Work Zone Safety Act and Yield-Right-Away legislation designed to keep our roadways safer.

Donna has also distinguished herself as an independent, reform-minded legislator. She authored the Contract Disclosure Act, which reformed the way state resources are allocated. She also co-sponsored the legislation that created Project Sunlight, a website that gives the public access to different state databases for campaign finance, lobbying, agency contracts, member items and legislation. Project Sunlight has been instrumental in identifying corrupt and unethical practices. As a testament to her work to reform state government, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie appointed her to the Assembly working group on Operations, Transparency and Participation.

She has also encouraged the state to revitalize its agricultural sector. Donna has co-sponsored numerous pieces of legislation to grow the states wine, spirit, cider and beer industry. She has been successful in pushing for assistance for farmers and to encourage new farmers. In 2014, she authored legislation to allow research universities to partake in a pilot research program to grow industrial hemp. The crop is poised to be a major driver for the state’s agricultural industry.

Her current legislative initiatives include licensure for Orientation and Mobility specialists and Vision Rehabilitation therapists, requiring periodic structural stability inspections for parking structures, creating a state commission to encourage public and private investment in early childhood learning and providing relief to small businesses motor carriers by ensuring fairness in contracts. She has worked to ensure quality services are available for the state’s developmentally disabled population.

In 2011, Donna was appointed the Chair of the Legislative Commission on Science & Technology. She also became Co-Chair of the Legislative Aviation Caucus.

In 2013, she was appointed Chair of the Committee on Children and Families and was elected as President of the New York Conference of Italian-American State Legislators. As Chair of the Committee on Children and Families, Donna has been an outspoken advocate for afterschool programs, increased child care subsidies and has worked to raise awareness of childhood poverty throughout the state. She also serves on the Assembly Childcare Workgroup.

In 2015, Donna was appointed by Speaker Carl Heastie to the Strategic Implementation Assessment Team (SIAT). The group was responsible for reviewing the 2015 REDC progress reports, Round V proposals submitted by the 10 councils, and the seven eligible Upstate Revitalization Initiative plans.

She was elected Chair of the Legislative Woman’s Caucus in 2015. The Caucus advocates for programs and services that benefit women. In addition to supporting issues important to New York women, the Caucus works to improve the participation of women in all areas of government and provides a network of support for women in the Legislature.

Originally from Staten Island, Donna is a graduate of Wagner College. She moved to the Southern Tier region in 1976 to attend graduate school at the State University of New York at Binghamton where she received a Master’s degree. She stayed on as a Lecturer in the School of Education & Human Development for ten years before dedicating herself to community mental health education and public service.

She served on the Broome County Legislature from 1999 to 2000 and is the first woman to represent Broome County in the State Legislature. Donna lives in Endwell with her husband Scott J. Peters, a professor in the Department of Development Sociology at Cornell University. He also serves as Faculty Co-Director of Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public life.